Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-01-13
THE STUDY OF ART.
PICTURE OF GIRL STUDENTS LIFE
IN A PARIS ATELiER.
What One of Their Number Says of Their
Work-A Pleasant Bit of Student Life.
Sunday Aftcrnoons-.Not Unfeminized.

What One of Their Number Says of Their
Work-A Pleasant Bit of Student Life.
Sunday Aftcrnoons-.Not Unfeminized.
Better than any words of mine Is what ono
of these girl students says herself in some
notes which asked her to make for mo in
addition to the sketches made by another girl
at the same atelier give them just as they
are:
"For any girls coming to study art in Paris,
to live as we do in quiet hotel, is far better
and more economical than to board with
French family OF pei sion, unless with a wish
to master the language. Nothing can be
more simple than our habits. We have one
room, and we descend - table dhote when
we choose-not otherwise We cook our own
breakfast over spirit lamp at 8 a. m. and 80
straight to the atelier, where we work till 2
Then dejeuner at cremerie and work again
till p. m. Returning to our hotel we can
dine if we like, but more often we boil our
kettle have tea aud an egg, and spend the
evening over a book 1t sounds rather
nlonotonous life, vet we all find it very at
tractivc, and the weeks slip by only too fast.
"Even the regular morning walk is pleas
ant At the hour the Quarter Latin is filled
with street sellers wheeling their stalls about,
housewives marketing in their white caps,
and little children in black pinafores mot
white ouesl being taken to school bytheir
bonne or garcon. Streams of men, too on
their way TO business. q newspaper in one
hand and roll in the other, imply that hard
working Pari;; is waking up to its daily life.
STUDY OF CHARACTER.
Our atelier gives US every opportunity for
the study of character In daily work TO-
gether most peoples natures arc clearly dis
played There is the elderly spinster, pre-
vented from study in her youth, and always
envying the younger students who have their
life before them Beside her is a patient
artist who has been toiling for years without
making any visible progress, but who still
hopes to succeed one day. Another, equally
hardworking with her whole soul in her
work, scorns such thing as outward ap-
cearance and her dress, once aesthetic, looks
like worn out robe de chambre slowly
melting into bundle of rags. But few
who combine the love of fashion with the
love of art comes here in costumes more
suited to the Champs Elysees than our
| crowded studio, where they arc in serious
danger of rubbing against pallets, knocking
down easels, etc
l. 'Companionship is one of the pleasantest
bits of student life. Our frugal tea parties,
when the hostess boils the kettle and sets the
table, and we all sit round the fire and dis
cuss the last exhibition, especially our own
professors work therein, or the success of
| enc of us in getting into the salon, which is
held as a universal triumph to all Conver-
sation never flags, for some of us have lived
| at the ends of the earth, and can describe
them well, and others are political spirits who
belong to debating society and wish to re-
construct the world after their pattern,
| which the rest good-naturedly but resolutely
disapprove Then where to spend our Sun
| day afternoons is always an important con
sideration. Nearly always we 60 out of
town by road or rail, and after six DAYS
| spent in the ateler, its close atmosphere reek-
; ing with oil and turpentine, the smells, sights
| aud sounds of the country are only too DE
| lightful.
INTERESTED IN WORK.
"S5uch are our pleasures; but, after ALL the
| most interesting thing is our work. Every
| Monday we have the excitement of posing the
new model We begin enthusiastically, but
| Tuesday, after the professor has criticised our
| drawings, our spirits usually sink little.
| Lower still they get Wednesday and Thurs
| day; by Friday, when the second professor
comes, they are usually down at zero. Satur-
| day finds us in deepest despair, only comfort
| ed by the resolution to do better next week
and that day is generally devoted TO water
| colors, or pen and ink sketches or portraits
| of some picturesque fellow student, usually
| kept as a souvenir when the time for leaving
| the atelier comes, and the girls who have been
| working together all winter so their several
| ways to meet again-when and where, who
knowsi Probably never
| But still they have done good work, poor
| girlsl and mingled it with great deal of in
nocent enjoyment. And though Paris Is,
most will agree, not a desirable place for 8
girl to study in alone, still necessity has no
law, and in community is much safety. Then
young students seem TO gothrough the ordeal
unscathed, and, SO far as | could Judge, with
| out being unfeminized. For they are work
| ingwomcn, and, as they honestly say, have
'tno time for anything but work. 1t is idle
| ness which breeds the follies, or worse than
| follies, of many young people, teaching them
to substitute Irritation for love, and the crav-
ing for mere admiration instead of that self
| devotedness which, however sad, is, at least.
more noble than the selfish vanity of a con-
quering beauty. The busy life of working
woman may harden her little, but it will
never degrade or det1Tioo7at-- fer.-Harpers
EaZar